When Mei Lanfang encountered Fei Mu
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Kenny K.K. Ng
Abstract
This chapter examines the intersemiotic translation of Chinese opera for cinema, between stage and screen. It examines the collaboration of Fei Mu and Mei Lanfang in producing China’s first color movie, an opera film, A Wedding in the Dream (1948). The two artists attempted to expand the expressive borders of stage and screen to forge a cultural identity of Chinese cinema. But the intermedia venture presented issues in adaptation, cinematization, and translation. How does opera film reconcile the realistic tradition of cinema with the figurative nature of Chinese theater? The study looks at the intermediality of adaptation as a practice of intersemiotic translation, focusing on how the symbolism of Chinese theater can be translated into cinematic form.
Abstract
This chapter examines the intersemiotic translation of Chinese opera for cinema, between stage and screen. It examines the collaboration of Fei Mu and Mei Lanfang in producing China’s first color movie, an opera film, A Wedding in the Dream (1948). The two artists attempted to expand the expressive borders of stage and screen to forge a cultural identity of Chinese cinema. But the intermedia venture presented issues in adaptation, cinematization, and translation. How does opera film reconcile the realistic tradition of cinema with the figurative nature of Chinese theater? The study looks at the intermediality of adaptation as a practice of intersemiotic translation, focusing on how the symbolism of Chinese theater can be translated into cinematic form.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Open perspectives
- Opera and intercultural musicology as modes of translation 13
- Surtitles and the multi-semiotic balance 35
- Tradition and transgression 53
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Across genres and media
- When Mei Lanfang encountered Fei Mu 75
- Fluid borders: From Carmen to The Car Man . Bourne’s ballet in the light of post-translation 95
- Aesthetics of translation 117
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Text and context
- Translations, adaptations or rewritings? 135
- The voice of the translator 159
- “Ordne die Reih’n” 175
- The migration of Madama Butterfly 195
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From text to stage
- The intertwined nature of music, language and culture in Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle 219
- Translating Wagner’s Versmelodie 243
- Operetta in Turkey 271
-
Libretto translation revisited
- Two English translations of Jaroslav Kvapil’s Rusalka libretto 291
- Intertextuality in nineteenth-century Italian librettos: To translate or not to translate? 315
- Multilingual libretti across linguistic borders and translation modes 337
- About the contributors 359
- Index 365
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Open perspectives
- Opera and intercultural musicology as modes of translation 13
- Surtitles and the multi-semiotic balance 35
- Tradition and transgression 53
-
Across genres and media
- When Mei Lanfang encountered Fei Mu 75
- Fluid borders: From Carmen to The Car Man . Bourne’s ballet in the light of post-translation 95
- Aesthetics of translation 117
-
Text and context
- Translations, adaptations or rewritings? 135
- The voice of the translator 159
- “Ordne die Reih’n” 175
- The migration of Madama Butterfly 195
-
From text to stage
- The intertwined nature of music, language and culture in Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle 219
- Translating Wagner’s Versmelodie 243
- Operetta in Turkey 271
-
Libretto translation revisited
- Two English translations of Jaroslav Kvapil’s Rusalka libretto 291
- Intertextuality in nineteenth-century Italian librettos: To translate or not to translate? 315
- Multilingual libretti across linguistic borders and translation modes 337
- About the contributors 359
- Index 365
